Warning

Billie Joe sat in the airport and waited, just like he had been waiting for the past hour. The flight had been delayed in Colorado for bad weather. Billie Joe sat in the café of the airport with the latest edition of Warning in front of him. He was not impressed with the articles. Therefore, he had a pen and was writing in the white margins of the paper.

There's no return from 86, don't even try. Exit in the back and never show your head around again. Purchase your ticket and quickly take the last train out of town.

He looked up at the passing pedestrians, Adrienne was not one of them. He bent back down over the ink scrawled magazine.

Dear Jimmy,
Keep my balance I think I'm falling off into a state of regression. The expiration date's rapidly coming up and it's leaving me behind to rank. They say always move forward, but going "straight" will get you nowhere. There is no progress! Evolution killed it all! I found my place in nowhere.

He looked up again and saw no familiar faces at all, just the passing blur of tired people making their way either home or to a hotel for the holidays. He went back to his writing.

I'm taking one step sideways leading with my crutch. I've got a fucked up equilibrium. I'm counting down from nine to five... Hooray! We're gonna die! Blessed into our extinction. Thanks lot.
JoS

"Billie!" Billie looked up to find Katrina rushing towards him, Adrienne carrying Jakob behind her. Katrina grabbed him into a tight hug, which he responded to after a second of shocked delay.

When they pulled away, Billie Joe got to look at her. "Hey, how are...." He noticed the bruises on her neck and swollen cheek. He looked up to see Adrienne sporting a black eye and a busted lip.

He stepped to Adrienne and pushed the sleeping Jakob's hair away from his face to find it was unmarred except for the tear tracks down his cheeks. He said nothing but looked at Adrienne who met his gaze with teary eyes.

"I'm so sorry." Was all she was able to croak out. She buried her face in his chest and Billie Joe put his arms around her and Jakob.

"It's okay. You're safe now. I'm not going to let anything happen to you
again." He kissed the top of her head in reassurance. "Come on, let's go."

------------*------------

"This is good dip." Adrienne said as she loaded up a cracker with Billie Joe's favorite dip. The two of them were sitting in the living room of Ollie's house alone, the kids were all ready asleep in a room.

The only light in the room were candles and the television, that neither of them were watching. Billie was sitting on the couch with Adrienne on the floor leaning up against his legs.

"Mmm hmm." Billie Joe responded as he took a swig of his beer and began to massage Adrienne's back.

"Ow, right there. It was killing me on that plane." Adrienne leaned forward so Billie Joe could get the right muscles underneath his hands. He continued to relieve her back in silence.

However, when her breathing was steady and her muscles relaxed, Billie Joe had to break the comfortable silence. "Feel like talking?"

Adrienne's muscles automatically tightened up again.

"Shit Adie, I just got those things relaxed." He kissed the back of her neck. "I'm just playing. Seriously though, we need to talk."

Adrienne sighed. "I know." She got off the floor and sat on the couch with him. She turned her body to him and took his hands. "Where do you want to start?"

"The very beginning because that is where everything comes from." Billie Joe chose his words very carefully. "I want to know what happened the night you and David.... procured Katrina."

"We were together at that point, me and you, and I swear on my children Billie Joe, I was never unfaithful to you." Tears began to swell up in her eyes. "David...."

Adrienne's cell phone rang shrilly in the quiet air.

"Don't answer it." Billie Joe requested quietly as Adrienne made a move towards it. "You know it's him and you know he has nothing to say to you that is worth saying or hearing. Adie, don't answer it. Stay with me, please."

Adie looked at him and crossed over to her phone and turned it off. "This way, I don't have to hear him at all."

"That's my girl." He grinned as she came back to him and kissed him as she sat down. "One more." Their lips met again. "Two more." And again. Billie Joe, forgetting the conversation at hand, began to pull her down on top of him.

"Mommy!" Jakob darted out of the dark room that he had been sharing with his sister and ran into the living room, almost knocking down candles as he went.

"Jakob, Jakob, it's okay baby. It's okay." Adrienne scooped him up and was cradling him before Billie Joe could push himself back up into a sitting position. "Tell me what's wrong."

Jakob, crying in his mother's protective arms sniffed before he could say anything. "I was just scared. I was afraid Dad was gonna find us and hurt us again."

Adrienne sat down in the recliner, still cradling Jakob. "Shhh, he can't do that baby. We're safe here. We're thousands of miles away from him and Billie Joe's here. Do you think Billie's going to let him hurt us here? No." They both shook their heads. "We're safe. We're safe."

"Hey bud." Billie Joe crossed over to the pair. He placed a hand on the small child's back. "There is nothing to be afraid of here. There is nothing here that could or will hurt you, ever."

Jakob looked at him with wide, dark eyes that mirrored his mother's. "Promise?"

"I do." Billie Joe ruffled his hair and kissed the top of his head. "And I try my best not to break my promises."

"Mommy," Jakob buried his head in Adrienne"s shoulder. "Can I sleep with you? Please?"

Adrienne exchanged a quick glance at Billie Joe. "Of course. Come on, let's go now." She started towards the bedroom put paused to turn off the television.

"I'll get the mess and I'll be there in a minute." Billie Joe told her and nodded for her to go into the bedroom.

When they had passed the dark threshold and closed the door, Billie Joe sat down hard on the couch and buried his face in his hands.

"Nice guys finish last."